Method of treating phosphates.



No Drawing.

STATS PATENT OFFICE.

METHOD OF TREATING PHOSPHATES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that-I, CHARLES N. MERI- WETHER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing'at Clarksville, in the county of Montgomery and Stateof Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMethods of Treating Phosphates; and I do declare the following to be a.full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable. others skilled in the 'artto which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to phosphates and method of treating them.

The object of the invention-is to provide a method of treating phosphateto render it eflective as a plant food, and which, when so treated, hasa basic reaction which is good for the majority of plants on most soils.1

The phosphate material, which may be in the form of rock or otherwise,is first pulverized and mixed with a portion of iron,

from five to twenty per cent. of the phosphates of lime, iron, andaluminum present. If the material does not contain naturally any lime,or magnesia in some form other than phosphate, enough lime or magnesiasalts, or both, are added to the mixture to render the total of suchaddition from 10 to 30 per cent. The iron is preferably used in the formof machine ,borings or turnings or scraps not heavier than a quarter ofan pulverized and used as a fertilizer.

ounce. Part of the iron, from 25 to 7 0 per cent, is'preferablymeplaced'with mill scale which is the burnt scale thatseparatesfrom iron when working it hot. This mixture is .then placed ina furnace and heated until it fuses, approximately to 1400 C. It maythen be run out, allowed" to 'cool, and then I For many purposes, it isdesirable to add to the mixture while in a molten state, a combinationof potash or soda oxids or salts, so that the fertilizer will analyzewhen completed, 1 to 10 per cent. ofpotash K 0 and 1 to 10 per cent. NaO. For some purposes, one only of these elements will be added. Thisaddition of alkalis may be made after the material has cooled. But inthat case, the whole must be fused again. If an excess of iron has beenused, it should be removed by use of a magnet or otherwise, and

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

Application filed November 18, 1913. Serial No. 801,64;

same as basic slag, but when an alkali is added, it becomes more solubleand more available to plants, and any excess of iron may be more easilyremoved and the sameprocess may be applied to basic slag to improve itssolubility and extract the iron which it contains. The fertilizerprepared as above described, has a basic re-action which greatlyimproves most plants when applied thereto, but when it is to be used incombination with a substance which will generate ammonia, it is renderedneutralby adding to it carbonic acid or some other acid, or asuperphosphate or sulfate. I claim as my invention 1. A process ofmanufacturing phosphate fertilizer which consists in pulverizing thephosphate material and mixing it with a proportion of cold iron and thenadding lime and magnesia salts, then placing the mixture in a furnaceand heating it till it fuses, then adding to the mixture while in amolten state, potash and soda oxid, then running out the so fusedmixture, allowing it to cool, and finally pulverizing it to ren 3. Aprocess of producing basic phosphate I of lime from phosphate bearingmaterial which consists in mixing it with cold iron and adding to'it aportion of alkali, thenfusing said material, and then pulverizing it andextracting the excess of iron, rendering it more fit for use as afertilizer.

4. A process of manufacturing phosphate fertilizer which consistsincombining ten per cent. more or less of cold iron with five timesasmuch, more or less of pulverized phosphate of-lime, then fusingthemixture and adding an alkali thereto.

5. A process of making phosphate feradding an alkali thereto, thenpulverizing the product and'finally extracting the iron therefrom.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set .my hand in presence of twosubscribing wit- 10 nesses.

. CHARLES N. QMERIWETHER.

Witnesses:

C. A. BAILEY, W. M. ORAM.

